The Process

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The Process

Author Comments

Today I had a horrible, interesting thought. Our brains prune the neuron connections that go unused for long enough. If someone were to be mind controlled for an extended period of time, even after being freed, they would not be the same. Their personality could be fundamentally altered by the power of the person controlling them.

This was somewhat inspired by the theme song to Alton Towers’ Smiler ride, as well as a few other tracks with a similar idea behind them. It was originally going to be a theme for a villain character I had, but the character was reworked and lost the sci-fi theme. I definitely have ideas for where else I can use it, though.

Thanks to @v-future for the mixing tips. I probably didn’t get it right, but after one last attempt I felt like I’ve worked on this for long enough.

Anyway, diminished 5ths are fun.

-Theta

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V-Future

2024-09-17 19:19:30

The bassline at 00:48 hits as hard as an alcoholic stepdad. The overall atmosphere evokes a sense of a mad scientist's laboratory, experimenting on unsuspecting victims. The mixing could certainly be refined in later projects but this will take a lot of time to learn so don't worry about it now because you did a great job!

Thetageist responds:

Yay! Thank you!

SpeedoRH

2024-08-16 18:37:12

Such a simple sounding track, but it has such a neat atmosphere around it! In my head, it's like the feeling of trying to run out of an endless hallway.

Only critique ig is the loudness of the mix; it's clean enough, just needs to be a tiny bit louder imo.

Thetageist responds:

Alright, thank you! What’s a good loudness to aim for when mixing? I have a hard time telling when something being too loud is the fault of mixing or just me having my headphones turned up too much.

Creeperforce24

2024-07-21 15:20:01

Thee could be better transitioning, but this sounds good as it is! It’s definitely got the weird evil lair vibe.

Thetageist responds:

Transitions have always been my blind spot lol, I need to keep up the grind.

Tangerine

2024-07-20 19:57:09

Nice!! I like your use of panning at the beginning.

If I were to give a piece of feedback, it would be to take more time with your transitions and to weave things in and out more. Silky smooth transitions are super important because they stop the listener from getting lost. If you want a sudden change to invoke shock or surprise, you can hint at it with a little bit of a warm-up, just so the listener knows something is about to happen :)

I've only listened to it briefly and I don't really know much about your music style, so take it with a large pinch of salt :)

Awesome song though, you absolutely nailed what you were going for. I had never actually thought about the psychological impact mind control would have on the victim after they're released. pretty interesting to think about

FunnyPlush

2024-07-19 16:56:24

My brain at 1am be like:

Thetageist responds:

Me too, man. That’s a big reason why I’ve been working on my sleep schedule - if I get too tired, my brain just starts spiraling and nothing feels real anymore.